IE 11 Not Supported

For optimal browsing, we recommend Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers.

The Red Cross Is Pressed to Respond to All Disasters

It is a never-ending cycle of disaster response.

Earlier last week I wrote about how the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will be tested to meet all the disaster events happening across the nation, from wildfires in the West to flooding elsewhere and then Hurricane Ida and the storms that followed south to north as Ida turned into a tropical storm and caused urban flash flooding in New York City and tornadoes in New Jersey, along with wind and rain damages in other states.

I recently read the quote below from the Red Cross:

“Trevor Riggen, the head of the American Red Cross’s domestic disaster program, said the agency is ‘testing the limits’ of its network. This week alone, more than 2,000 staff and volunteers have deployed across 10 states. Many of them are on their second or third crisis of the summer. ‘It’s no longer, ‘We have a big event and then there’s time to recover,’’ Riggen said. ‘Disaster has become a chronic condition.’”

Deanne Criswell was interviewed on MSNBC and said the agency has all the resources to meet the needs of the moment. The only way that is possible is by shifting resources around and shuffling them from one disaster to the next — before they are really done with working at the previous disaster site.

Rachel Maddow told Criswell to let her know if she ever needed more resources of any type and Deanne “thanked her for the offer.” Like that is ever going to happen!
Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.